The DJ, the Brothers & the Roman Terraces of the Sil
A Galician-Swiss DJ who went from earning €1,000 an hour to €1,000 a month — stinking of sulfur and compost — teamed up with two brothers from Barantes de Arriba to resurrect abandoned Roman terraces on the vertiginous banks of the River Sil. Together they make racy, Atlantic field blends from 100+ year-old vines on decomposed granite, entirely by hand, outside the DO.
Origin — Some Beers in a Bar & a Reckoning with Roots
Fredi Torres was born in Galicia but moved to Switzerland with his mother when he was five. He grew up between Rías Baixas and Zurich, spending childhood afternoons on his grandparents' small farm — not a vineyard, but a traditional Galician holding with animals and vegetable plots. His grandparents didn't grow vines, but they bought wine by the barrel, and like many children of that era, Fredi was given bread with sugar and wine as an afternoon snack. His first passion was not wine. It was music. From a very young age, he made a good living as a house music DJ in Switzerland, earning what he recalls as €1,000 an hour in the glamour of Zurich nightlife.
His pivot to wine came gradually — a girlfriend introduced him to serious bottles, and one day he bought a Torres Mas La Plana, bemused to see his own surname on a label. In 2002, he tasted Clos Mogador and discovered what he called "a new Spain beyond Rioja, Vega Sicilia and sangria" — producers with a hippy attitude to life that stood in contrast to the pomp of Bordeaux. He left the decks behind, moved to Priorat, and started from scratch as a winegrower. He studied winemaking and viticulture, worked at Clos Mogador, became a partner and winemaker at Saó del Coster, and eventually launched his own brand, Fredi Torres Viticultor, in 2013.
That same year, over beers in a bar, Fredi proposed a collaboration to two old friends: brothers Juan and Carlos Rodríguez, from the hamlet of Barantes de Arriba in Sober, on the north bank of the River Sil in the heart of the Amandi sub-zone. The brothers had busy lives and demanding careers but were eager to reconnect with their roots, preserve the historic vineyards around their village, and express the landscape through wine. Fredi, meanwhile, had never forgotten the light, acidic reds his Galician grandfather made. Silice Viticultores was born — named for the silica-rich granite soils that define the region, and for the winegrowers whose backbreaking manual labour on these slopes is the project's lifeblood.
The first vintage, 2013, was a mere 3,800 bottles. They have grown steadily since, but the philosophy has never shifted: organic farming, native yeasts, minimal intervention, and an absolute commitment to the people who tend these impossible terraces.
The Place — Granite, Schist & the Ghosts of Rome
Ribeira Sacra is one of the most visually arresting wine regions on earth — a network of river canyons carved by the Sil and Miño, whose slopes rise so steeply that vineyard work is a test of vertigo and faith. The Romans knew what they were doing when they terraced these inclines two millennia ago. Today, Silice works across roughly 8 hectares of vines in the Amandi, Doade, and Rosende zones, though only 1.5 hectares belong directly to Juan and Carlos. The rest is sourced from local growers — because, as Fredi insists, "people are more important than soils."
Decomposed Granite & Mica
Silice's name is no accident. The project is organised around decomposed granite soils — cold, mineral, and free-draining — which Fredi believes are best suited to Mencía, a variety naturally low in acidity. Some parcels also contain schist and gneiss, and the single-vineyard Xabrega sits on striking red granite with mica. It is not unusual to kick up Roman roof tiles while working the vineyards.
20 to 100+ Year-Old Vines
The vines range from young plants to centenarian bush vines, many on the vertiginous slopes where tractors are impossible and every task — pruning, ploughing, harvest — is done by hand with harnesses and nerve. Yields are minuscule. The average vine age across their parcels is roughly 60 years, with many far older.
Interplanted Field Blends
True to the historical method of Ribeira Sacra, the vineyards are co-planted — Mencía grows alongside Garnacha Tintorera, Brancellao (Albarello), Merenzao, Palomino, Treixadura, Albariño, Godello and Branco Lexítimo. Whites are often interplanted with reds in the same row, a risk-minimisation strategy that also produces wines of extraordinary aromatic complexity.
Outside the DO
After issues with the regulatory body during their first vintage, Silice made a decisive choice: they forewent the Ribeira Sacra DO entirely. This freedom allows them to blend varieties, pick when they choose, and vinify without bureaucratic constraint. Like Envínate, Fedellos de Couto, and other top producers, they believe the appellation limits rather than protects their vision.
Winemaking — Fresh, Atlantic, Whole-Bunch & Fearless
Fredi Torres is a pioneer of early picking and low extraction in Spain — techniques he helped popularise in Priorat before bringing them to Galicia. At Silice, the goal is always freshness: bright Atlantic fruit, nervy acidity, and a transparency that lets the granite speak. "As Mencía is low acidity, I find that cold, granite soils are best suited for this variety," he says. The wines are typically 12–12.5% alcohol, a world away from the overripe, oak-bomb style that once dominated Spanish reds.
All ferments are with natural yeasts. The entry-level Silice Tinto sees roughly 30% whole cluster, while the single-vineyard wines like Lobeiras and Xabrega can be 100% whole bunch. Grapes are hand-harvested into 15kg crates, bunch-selected, and fermented with a combination of destemmed fruit and whole clusters. Manual pressing, cold macerations, and gentle extraction are the norms.
Aging happens in a mix of steel tanks, concrete eggs, used foudres, and old oak barrels — never new wood that would mask the fruit. The wines rest on their lees, undergo full malolactic fermentation, and are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Sulfur is used minimally and only when necessary; total SO₂ levels are remarkably low. The result is a lineup of wines that are racy, fresh, and fun, yet seriously elegant, with razor-sharp detail and the structure to age.
The Wines — Snapshots of Place & Vintage
Each cuvée is named for a specific parcel or concept, and production is tiny — some as little as 250 to 300 bottles. The labels are clean and modern, letting the wine inside do the talking. These are not wines of power; they are wines of precision, perfume, and mineral tension.
Silice Tinto
Entry-level field blend — AmandiThe calling card. Roughly 85% Mencía with 15% others — Garnacha Tintorera, Brancellao (Albarello), Merenzao, and a splash of white grapes. 30% whole cluster, fermented with native yeasts and aged 9 months on lees in a mix of steel, concrete, and a 5,200-litre used foudre. Lovely floral cherry aromatics, dried herbs, silky texture, and a mineral frame. 12.5% alcohol. The purest introduction to the Silice style.
Silice Blanco
Field blend white — AmandiA blend of Treixadura, Albariño, Branco Lexítimo, Godello and other indigenous whites from steep terraced vineyards. Partially raised in stainless steel, concrete egg, and old barrels. Lively, pure, and transparent — fresh lemon, green apple, leesy spice, and a Chablis-like mineral nose. Serious and expressive, with the tension to match raw seafood or aged cheese.
Finca Lobeiras
Single-vineyard red — AmandiFrom a very steep, low-yielding vineyard on clay-limestone soils. 100% whole bunch Mencía, Albarello, and Merenzao. Aged 15 months in used oak barrels. Supple, fine, and lightly boned — elegant red cherry and redcurrant fruit with a savoury, herbal streak and a finish that seems to float. Only ~300 bottles produced. A wine of breathtaking delicacy.
Finca Xabrega
Single-vineyard red — AmandiSourced from red granite with mica soils — a striking, luminous terroir. 100% whole bunch, pale and translucent in the glass. A field blend of roughly 90% Mencía with Garnacha Tintorera and white grapes. Ethereal, perfumed, and refined: juicy red cherries, fine wild herbs, and a smoky mineral framing that builds with air. Only ~288 bottles. One of the most sought-after wines in the range.
Finca Rosende
Single-vineyard red — RosendeFrom a centenary vineyard in the Rosende zone, dominated by Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet) with Mencía. A wine of surprising intensity and grip — vivid tart berry fruits, savoury spice, and a gripping, earthy tannic structure that demands food. Aged in used oak barrels. Only ~300 bottles. Proof that Garnacha Tintorera, when grown on ancient vines at low yields, can be profound rather than merely dark.
Finca Rosado
Structured rosé — AmandiA serious, structured rosé of Mencía, Merenzao, and Palomino. Short maceration, fermented in a combination of new and stainless steel barrels, then aged 4 months. Not a poolside pour — this is a wine with backbone, complexity, and a savoury edge. Red berries, white pepper, and a saline finish that speaks of the river. Enjoy now or cellar for evolution.
Pomagrana
Light chilled redA lighter, chillable red — earthy on the nose, fruit-punchy and perfumed on the palate. Made for immediacy and joy, served slightly cool alongside charcuterie or grilled fish. The kind of wine that disappears from the fridge before you've finished setting the table.
Trousseau Silice
Micro-cuvée experimentalAn exclusive, experimental wine — only 240 bottles. Whole grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts, aged 12 months in used barrels. Bottled by hand, lightly filtered. Pure, artisanal, and almost impossible to find. A window into Fredi's restless, creative mind.
Legacy — The People Before the Soils
Silice Viticultores matters because it represents a third way in Ribeira Sacra — neither the industrialisation of the DO nor the solitary hermit-vigneron model, but a collaborative, community-based approach to saving one of Europe's most endangered vineyard landscapes. Fredi Torres could have stayed in Priorat, making powerful, expensive wines for the international market. Instead, he chose to return to his grandfather's Galicia and work with local growers who had no voice, no marketing budget, and no Instagram following.
His insistence that "people are more important than soils" is not rhetoric. In a region where the average age of grape growers is pushing 80 and young people have fled to the cities, Silice provides economic viability for smallholders who would otherwise abandon their Roman terraces to the forest. By sourcing fruit from neighbours, paying fairly, and farming organically, Fredi, Juan and Carlos are keeping a fragile agricultural ecosystem alive — one 15kg crate at a time.
Stylistically, Silice has helped redefine what Mencía can be. Before producers like Fredi, Ribeira Sacra reds were often over-extracted, over-oaked, and overripe. Silice proved that Mencía from granite, picked early, fermented with stems, and raised in neutral vessels, can produce wines of Burgundian delicacy — pale, perfumed, and mineral. The influence is visible across the region, from Envínate to Fedellos de Couto to Laura Lorenzo's Daterra.
And then there is the courage of independence. By walking away from the DO after their first vintage, Silice joined a growing movement of Galician producers — including many of the region's best — who refuse to let bureaucratic rules dictate which grapes they can plant, which varieties they can blend, and when they can pick. In doing so, they have preserved the field blend tradition that is the true genetic heritage of Ribeira Sacra: Mencía, Albarello, Merenzao, Palomino, Treixadura and Godello growing together as they have for centuries.
The Roman roof tiles still turn up in the vineyards. The terraces still require harnesses and hand tools. And the wines still taste like the Sil River itself — fast, fresh, and impossibly alive.